Georgia Peach
by elanev91
Summary: Lily Evans, lifelong New Yorker, is headed to the University of North Carolina for a job interview and she can't find the right god damn building. Lucky for her, southern belle James Potter is there to save the day. American AU, Modern AU, Muggle AU, University Professor AU
1. Chapter 1

**I say fuck a lot. Like 57 times a lot. Is it necessary? No. Do I care? Not even a little bit.**

 **This is literal nonsense, but I promised levins I would write this and so - I wrote this.**

 **Enjoy. x**

* * *

Lily Evans was late.

Well, she wasn't _late_ late, but she wasn't early, and at this rate, she might as well be fucking late. She was late and sweating (because it's a million fucking degrees outside even though it's fucking February) and lost (because this campus was stupid and the buildings needed to be marked better for the love of fucking god). She had unfurled a giant map she'd grabbed from the library she'd wandered into accidentally, and was standing in the middle of the giant brick walkway outside trying to find the fucking building she needed (and keep from tearing her hair out from the stress) when someone tapped her shoulder.

She whirled round and her eyes met a tall, spectacled guy with horribly untidy black hair - he was smiling at her (and attractive as _hell_ but she didn't have time for this today). Back home in New York, this shit never ended well, but she figured she might as well try and be polite. Get into the Southern spirit or whatever. She raised an eyebrow, 'Yes?'

He grinned wider at her ( _how in the fuck is he doing that with his face?!_ ), 'You look like you need help. Can I help you find something?'

His accent was thicker than she'd thought it would be just from looking at him, and his speech was slow, measured, like he was taking his time, letting his mouth form each goddamned syllable instead of rushing through it and letting the sounds run together. Even hearing it made her heart pound, annoyed, in her chest, made her hands tremble with nervous energy. She didn't understand slow, wasn't interested in slow - she was born fast, lived fast, and New York had been more than willing to cater to that part of her. Hell, it had encouraged it.

 _What the fuck am I doing here again?_

She took a deep breath, brushed a quick hand across her brow, swiped her dark red hair forcefully out of her eyes. 'Yeah,' she said, her own accent harder, more forceful after his smooth, rounded sound, 'I need to find the chemistry building.'

'Oh,' he grinned at her, 'Now, why are you headed there, darlin?'

 _For fuck's sake, does everything need to be a goddamn conversation?_ 'I have an interview,' she said, and her tone was even more clipped than before as the anxiety started to build in her chest, 'I'm going to be late if I don't get there soon.'

She'd hoped that she was communicating just how fucking urgent this was, just how close she was to complete emotional collapse, but then he smiled at her, another lazy smile that set her teeth on edge, and said, 'Well, I suppose I could help you out if - '

She'd tried, honestly, to be patient, but she just wasn't fucking built for this, not today when she was already at her wits end and her nerves were frayed beyond repair. She burst into speech, interrupted the middle of his sentence, her hands flying, 'I don't have time for some fucking Georgia peach to take eight fucking hours to tell me where I need to go! Can you just fucking point me or something?'

Anyone else probably would have been taken aback, been horribly insulted and shouted at her, or _at least_ given up and walked away. He just waited patiently for her to finish and laughed heartily as she stood there, seething, 'Well now, darlin', that's your problem right there. We're in North Carolina, not Georgia. I reckon that's why you're lost.'

Lily wanted to rip her hair out, 'I know what fucking state I'm in! I just don't know any other ridiculous Southern names so you're a peach, and no,' she held up her hand because he had opened his mouth like he was going to start listing off all the fucking names he could think of, 'I'm not interested in hearing them.'

She kept waiting for him to turn on his heel and just leave her there (she would have done it ages ago), but he just shook his head, chuckled warmly, 'I knew ya'll New Yorkers were angry, but I didn't know ya'll were this angry.'

'How do you know I'm from New York?!'

He grinned, 'Please, darlin', don't insult my intelligence. It's as clear as day.'

Lily saw red and he just laughed.

She sighed, 'Can you _please_ just tell me where,' she checked her sheet again, 'Venable Hall is? My faculty contact was supposed to meet me, but his kids are sick, and I said I could find the place myself because I SHOULD FUCKING BE ABLE TO, but now I can't because this fucking campus is absurdly large, and please for the love of god, it's killing me to ask for help, can you just -'

He held up a hand now, cut her off midstream. He stuck his arm out, an amused grin on his face, 'If you'll take my arm, darlin', I'm more than happy to get you where you're going.'

Lily shot him a look, 'This isn't _Gone with the_ fucking _Wind_ , I'm not taking your damn arm. You don't even have to walk with me, just point me in the general direction.'

The bastard just grinned, turned on his heel, started walking, and Lily huffed angrily, 'I could have asked anyone on this entire fucking campus - '

'You coming, darlin'?' He'd turned around, ten feet away from her now, smiled a winning smile at her. She sighed, turned, and walked quickly to catch up.

He smiled down at her as soon as she fell into step beside him, 'So, what brings you to Chapel Hill?'

 _Of course he's trying to make conversation. Can't we just walk in silence and pretend no one else exists on the entire fucking planet like normal human beings?_ She straightened up, adjusted the bag on her arm, 'I'm interviewing for a position in the Chemistry department.'

She noticed his expression change, just a bit, like something had registered in his mind, but it was gone before she could really process it (or think to shout at him about it). He hummed, 'Well now, that's impressive.'

She shot him a glare, 'Why?'

He laughed, 'Because I know that the position you're interviewing for drew hundreds of applicants. It's impressive that you made it through a field that large.'

Lily shrugged, 'Well, someone had to, why not me?'

He smiled, 'Why not, indeed, darlin'?'

Lily groaned, 'You've called me "darlin",' she did a thick imitation of his southern drawl, 'like eight thousand times in the past five minutes. Is this a thing, because I swear to god that might be a deal breaker for me.'

He laughed again, 'No, darlin', I just don't know your name. And I can tell that you hate it, so...' he trailed off and shot her a look.

She rolled her eyes, 'You're a dick.'

'Now, there's that New York charm I'm always hearing so much about.'

She sighed, let the silence hover between them for a moment before she said, 'Lily Evans.'

He hummed, 'What's that?'

'My name,' she said, rolling her eyes, 'Lily Evans.'

He beamed at her, reached over and shook her hand (a move that was very awkward while they were walking), 'James Potter.' She nodded, smiled what was probably a half-hearted smile, and dropped his hand.

They fell into what felt, to Lily, like a less-than-comfortable silence, but from the easy way that James was gliding along beside her, you would have thought they were taking some kind of country fucking stroll. His hands swung lazily at his sides when they weren't reaching up to tousle his hair or push his glasses back up his nose, he was, somehow, not even breaking a sweat in the full fucking suit he was in, and he'd even had the audacity to look at her after he stuffed his hands in his trouser pockets and say, 'Just a bit chilly today, don't you think, darlin'?'

She'd almost slugged him for that, but the amused look on his face told her that he probably would have counted it as a victory if she had.

'Are you irritating me on purpose?'

He laughed, loud and deep, and she steadfastly ignored the way her stomach clenched at the sound. 'About time you caught on.'

She turned to glare at him, 'Are you fucking serious?'

That, for some reason, made him laugh even louder, and he reached up, brushed a tear from the corner of his eye and adjusted his glasses, 'Yeah, sorry, darlin', I just couldn't help it. You look so beautiful when you're angry.'

She snorted, 'Look, Potter, this isn't some _You've Got Mail_ romance kinda bullshit. I just need you to get me to this fucking building so that I can do this interview. I'm already stressed out because the job market is _literally_ hell and I don't even know how I managed to get an interview at this huge fucking school because I would literally have killed to get even a shot at a job like this and now I'm here and I have no idea how in the fuck I'm going to get through the next two days without imploding and - '

'Whoa, whoa, whoa,' he said, and he reached out, grabbed her elbow, and stopped them walking in the middle of the sidewalk. New York Lily would have ripped her arm out of his grasp, stalked off, maybe even smacked him first, but Chapel Hill Lily, Interview Lily, was hyperventilating a little bit. She had the beginnings of a panic attack lurking on the edges of her brain, and she closed her eyes, took a few deep, steady breaths, and, even though she felt him grip her elbow a bit harder, felt him step closer to her, she didn't open her eyes until she she felt her heart start to slow to a manageable rate.

When she opened her eyes again, he was looking down at her, concern knitting his eyebrows.

'What?' She'd tried to snap at him, tried to sound forceful, but her voice sounded a bit shaky to her own ears and she knew that he'd detected it. He frowned deeper, 'You alright?'

She took another deep breath, pulled herself up so that she was standing up straight again, drew her shoulders back, 'Yeah,' she said, reaching up and tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, 'yeah, I'm fine.'

He raised an eyebrow, 'Are you sure, because - '

'I said I'm fine.'

Her voice was a bit more forceful now, and James fell silent at once. He studied her for another long moment before he nodded, 'Alright. Well, let's get you to your building then.'

They walked in silence, Lily doing her best to bring her breathing back to a normal rate, to work out all the anxiety that had crept back into her head. She'd been good, _fine,_ for the trip into town yesterday, for the faculty dinner the night before, through most of the day so far today, but now that she was this close to the actual fucking show, to the faculty meetings and her fucking _job talk,_ she could feel herself starting to freak out. The fact that she'd gotten this offer, that they'd wanted her to visit… it helped, a little, because the fact that they liked her enough at the early stages of the interviewing process to bring her onto campus at all meant that they thought she had a chance, and she knew that all she had to do was _crush_ the rest of today and the morning tomorrow and the job was hers.

She tried to think about it like it was a simple thing, but she knew that this was easily the most high stakes thing she'd done in a while.

After a few minutes, she cleared her throat and turned to James, 'I, uh - '

James looked over at her, raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. Lily tried again, 'I - thanks, I mean, for walking me to this building. I know I haven't been the most, uh… amicable.'

James nodded, a ghost of a smile playing at the corner of his lips. She figured that he was going to give her some kind of sassy response, but when he finally smiled at her, it was a genuine one. 'I remember how stressful this was,' he said, 'you're alright. Just…' he buried his hand in his hair and his smile turned wry, 'I know it doesn't help, but honestly. Just relax. You're going to blow them away.'

She couldn't conjure the words to say anything in response, so she just nodded.

James started pointing things out as they walked, obviously trying to get her mind off of things.

'So, when I found you, you were in front of Davis Library, our central library. You actually weren't too far off from where you needed to go… that,' he pointed at a huge sunken courtyard, 'is the Pit. Usually teeming with students, but we're here pretty early, so most of them are still sleeping.'

He shot her a grin and she felt herself relax just a bit more as she breathed a laugh.

'This,' he pointed at another building with huge white columns, 'is Wilson Library, our special collections library. It's at the head of,' he gestured out to his right at the huge grass lawn next to them, 'Polk Place. A lot of the academic buildings are clustered around the quad and Venable, the building you're looking for, is just on the end here.'

'There are also some huge lab buildings here too, Caudill, Morehead, and Kenan labs are all right here, so depending on what your research is in... '

'Inorganic spectroscopy and solar energy conversion,' she said.

'Damn,' James said, running his hand through his hair again, 'that's amazing.'

She smiled, felt a bit of her old confidence returning, solidifying in her bones, 'Thank you.'

James tipped his head at her, 'So, you'd be in Kenan, probably. Most of our physical chemistry faculty hang out there. That's the building right behind this one, which,' he stopped walking, 'is Venable. Your destination.'

She drew in a deep breath, exhaled sharply, shook a few nerves out, 'Okay, I'm fine.' She took a moment to gather herself before she looked back up at James again, 'Thank you, James. Seriously. I never would have found this place otherwise.'

'Yeah you would have,' James said, 'but I'm always happy to help, darlin'.'

She huffed and he grinned, shot her a wink, 'Look, you're feeling better already.' She laughed in spite of herself, shook her head at him, 'Just get out of here before I kill you.'

James grinned, 'See you later, darlin'.'

Lily rolled her eyes, fought the smile threatening to overwhelm her face, ' _Go.'_

James walked backwards for a few steps, his eyes trained on hers, before he lifted his hand one more time, turned on his heel, and walked off.

 _Idiot._

 _Hot idiot._

Lily took a moment to push the thought from her head, shake the last few nerves loose from her hands, before she took a deep breath and walked inside.

A truly heinous number of one on one meetings and a job talk later, Lily was walking back outside Venable to wait for her next faculty escort. She'd had dinner with some of the heavy hitters in the department the night before, but tonight they'd scheduled her something of a break, and set her up to have dinner with the department's most recent hire. Al, the chair of the department, had said he hoped that the conversation would "open her eyes to the exciting possibilities that exist at UNC for promising young faculty," and, though Lily had initially been tempted to roll her eyes at how obnoxious it sounded, she had managed to control herself so that she didn't look like a complete dickhead. The job talk had gone well, her meetings _phenomenally_ well, and she was actually starting to think that she would fit into this department rather nicely.

When she walked back outside to wait for whoever was supposed to pick her up, she noticed, unbelievably, _James Potter_ standing near a table at the seating area nearby, talking rapidly with two (also ridiculous attractive) men. James was laughing, his hands flying wildly through the air as he told them whatever the hell he was telling them, but it was the _speed_ at which he was talking that she picked up on more than anything else.

The fucker absolutely did _not_ speak like the human embodiment of cold fucking molasses.

She tipped her head in annoyance as she watched him before one of the men beside him, the shorter, long haired one, punched James on the shoulder and nodded his head in her direction. James' head whipped round ( _okay, what the fuck was that_ ) and he beamed when his eyes landed on her.

She just started shaking her head at him.

James' smile widened. He turned back to his friends, clapped them each on the shoulder, before he turned to walk over to her, his hand jumping up into his hair about halfway across the lawn. The long haired guy that had pointed her out to James made like he was going to follow him across the lawn, but the tall, lanky blonde by his side grabbed his hand, started pulling him in the other direction, wrapped his arm firmly around the long haired guy's waist when he attempted to break free.

She crossed her arms as he approached, 'What happened to your Southern… drawl?'

She drug the words out, tried to put something of a twang into them and James just laughed, 'What?'

'Your whole fucking accent,' she said, throwing her hands up into the air, 'I saw you over there running your mouth a fucking mile a minute, and from the moment that I met you earlier today, you were talking all slow and fucking steady, but you obviously don't actually talk that way!'

James started laughing, and she smacked him in the arm, which, because he's a complete idiot, just made him laugh harder. _Bastard._

'Did you seriously think that everyone from the south talks… like… this?' He slowed his speech down to an obnoxiously slow rate, swivelled his head as he sounded out each word, and Lily threw up her hands, 'I mean, I don't know, _yes!_ How was I supposed to know!?'

James snorted, 'Talk to an actual human being?'

'Well, you didn't help,' Lily said, poking him in the chest, 'You made me think that you actually sounded like that!'

James raised a challenging eyebrow at her, 'First of all, I wasn't actually talking that slowly. And second, it's not like you didn't already expect me to be some kind of bumpkin, Ms New York City.'

Lily opened up her mouth to argue, but James just laughed, shook his head, 'No, no time, sorry darlin',' he winked and her scowl deepened, 'I've gotta take you to dinner.'

That certainly caught her off guard.

'W-what?'

'I'm your next stage in the interview process, darlin,' he stuck out his hand, 'Dr James Potter. I'm here to take you to dinner.'

Lily grasped his hand weakly, shook it without really registering it, her mouth hanging open in shock, 'You…'

He smiled at her, the corners of his mouth twitching just a bit like he was holding back a laugh, 'I'm the new hire from last year. They wanted me to show you around, you know, as fellow outsiders. Give you a sense of what it was like to acclimate here.'

'But… but you aren't on the website!'

James laughed, ran a hand through his hair, 'Our website is a bit out of date.'

Lily exhaled sharply, 'Fucking obviously.'

Her stomach might as well have fallen out of her fucking ass. She - she'd researched the department before she'd gotten here, she'd found out everything she could about their hiring history, and, sure, there had been a few gap years in what she'd found, but she just - she fucking _assumed_ that those gaps were because of budgets or something. She hadn't even _heard_ of James Potter before and if she was obviously this out of fucking touch -

She swallowed, tried to inject a bit of steel into her voice to compensate for the fact that she was dying inside, 'Well, I guess I can kiss this job goodbye, can't I?'

James laughed, tousled his hair again, 'And why would you say that, darlin'?'

'Because I was swearing at you after knowing you for like, two fucking seconds, and, shit, I - UGH, I can't stop, and - '

'We all have our quirks, darlin'. Swearing is just yours.'

She gaped at him, 'But… I was being an asshole to you.'

'You're from New York,' he said, and his grin became so wide it threatened to overtake his face, 'you can't help it.'

She groaned, 'I really want to hit you right now.' He just laughed, 'I'm sure you do, _but_ we have places to be. The hitting will have to wait until later, I'm afraid.'

He turned on his heel and started walking back towards Venable, and Lily had to jog to catch up. 'Okay, but I didn't know who you were!'

'A much larger infraction,' James said, 'but only because I was positive I was world famous by now, what with my many talents and charming smile.'

He flashed said smile at her and she tipped her head back towards the sky and groaned loudly. James laughed, 'Relax, darlin', you'll - '

'Potter, if you call me darlin' _one more fucking time_ I swear to fucking god - '

'Alright, _Lily_ ,' James said, and he stopped, reached over, and gripped her elbow firmly, 'you're alright. Okay? You're alright. Honestly.'

His voice was low and forceful, but soothing, and Lily let her eyes fall closed as she pulled in a deep, cleansing breath. She took a moment to gather her thoughts, to let her heart rate figure it's shit out, and then she nodded, opened her eyes.

James' hand was still on her elbow and he was standing closer than she'd remembered him being when she closed her eyes.

'I really didn't ruin everything?'

James shook his head, 'Nope. And - well, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but can you keep a secret?'

Lily nodded and James grinned, 'The committee is really impressed with you. We've got one more applicant visiting after you, but the way they've been talking…. I'd expect everything short of a direct offer when you meet with Al tomorrow.'

Lily laughed, but it was still a bit breathy as her heart rate slowly returned to normal, 'I'm still really surprised that you aren't going to tell him I'm an asshole.'

'Well, that just wouldn't be true now, would it?'

Lily studied him for a moment, waiting for his expression to change, waiting for him to start laughing derisively and say 'Of fucking course you're an asshole,' but nothing ever changed. He just stood there, face even, genuine smile on his lips, watched her watching him.

She furrowed her brows at him and his smile widened, 'I know you're waiting for me to insult you, but it's not going to happen.'

She sighed, smacked him lightly on the arm, 'Let's go, idiot.'

He grinned, 'As you wish, darlin'.'

She almost turned around and smacked him again for the laughter in his voice.

James took her to a small restaurant in Carrboro, a small town just outside Chapel Hill that James kept trying to sell her as a liberal haven in an otherwise blood red North Carolina.

'This is Franklin Street slash Main Street,' James said, and he gestured out of the window briefly with his left hand before he put it back on the wheel again, 'there's lots of shopping and cool restaurants and stuff here. Everything is pretty much closed now, but you should definitely check this out before you leave.'

'That,' James said, as he pointed out the window again, 'is the co-op. My friends and I all have shares, and they have a really great hot and cold bar if you're into that. _And,_ ' he flicked his blinker on and turned into a small parking lot, 'the farmers market is just a bit farther up. In the winter it opens at nine, but in the summer it opens at seven.'

He seemed genuinely excited about this, and she barely suppressed a groan.

 _Who knew that North Carolina had it's own fucking Brooklyn? Maybe this will feel more like home than I thought._

They climbed out of the car and crossed the street, chatting quietly as they walked up the practically deserted sidewalk. Lily had been so caught up in looking around, trying to absorb as much of the place as she could, that she didn't notice that James was slowing down beside her. James rested his hand lightly on her elbow and she came to a stop.

'What?'

James grinned at the (for once unintentional) challenge in her voice, 'We're here.'

The restaurant was a house more than anything, a small, single story with a red roof and a stone wall around an outdoor patio. She turned to James and raised an eyebrow, 'This is a house.'

James shook his head, 'This is a restaurant. I think you have these in New York, don't you?'

She smacked his elbow, and James laughed, led her inside.

'I wasn't sure what you'd be in the mood for,' James said, turning to her as they walked into the waiting area, 'but I figure you can't really go wrong with French food?'

She nodded, tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, 'Pretty safe bet, yeah.'

He pulled out a chair when they got to their table, smiled at her; she laughed, pulled out the chair next to the one he'd selected and dropped into it. He sat down in the chair opposite her, chuckling and shaking his head, 'Is there something about New York that makes you want to do everything the hard way?'

She laughed, spread her napkin out across her lap, 'It's honestly probably just habit at this point.'

James rolled his eyes, but she shot him a wink and the corner of his mouth hitched up into a smirk as he dropped his own napkin onto his lap.

James ordered a bottle of wine for the table, and, though it had already been easier to talk to him this afternoon than it had been earlier in the day, it was a lot easier with a glass of wine (or three) in her system. They started out professionally, chatted about her research, the labs she'd been in, the publications she'd been on, the conferences she'd presented at, but they gradually fell into more personal chat that tottered the line before it skipped over the line completely.

She told him about going to school in New York, how Columbia had felt like home but also so new and exciting, how elated she was when she finally scraped together enough money to convince her parents to let her move up to Morningside Heights and save herself the hour and a half commute on the 2. She told him about growing up in New York in the 90s, how her parents had threatened to move to Jersey more times than she could count, but how they'd never been able to bite the bullet. They'd never had much money, especially because New York has never been cheap, but they'd loved the city anyway, had let it bleed into every single part of them, and Lily was so glad they'd never moved because she wasn't quite sure who she was without the city thrumming around her. She told him about her sister, how she'd moved up to New England with her husband, gotten a summer house on the Cape, and decided that she was better than everyone else.

He told her all about growing up in the south, about how he'd lived in the Triangle his whole life, and how, though they'd lived closer to Raleigh, James had always felt more at home in Durham and Chapel Hill because it was where his parents used to work. His mom had been one of the founding professors in the African American studies department at UNC, his dad a cardiothoracic surgeon at Duke University Hospital, and he'd spent so much time wandering around Chapel Hill as a kid that he could navigate the entire town blindfolded. He told her about his best friends, Sirius and Remus - he'd known Sirius his whole life, had lived just a ten minute bike ride away until one night Sirius showed up on his parent's porch, drenched from a summer storm, and never left again. They'd met Remus at Duke when he'd ended up being the third in their freshman quad, and they'd become fast friends. Their fourth roommate, Peter, had seemed great, had been their _friend_ , but then they'd come home late one afternoon towards the end of their freshman year and heard Peter practising his paper for debate, and it didn't matter how many times Peter tried to explain that it was just history to him _,_ it wasn't _just history_ , it was so, so much more than that, so much worse than that, and they couldn't stand to be in the same room with him after that.

By the time they left the restaurant, the sun had gone down completely and the air had cooled considerably. She crossed her arms, shivered involuntarily, 'Fuck, it's almost like being back home.'

James laughed, 'Yeah, the winters in North Carolina tend to be a little unpredictable. It was 81 last weekend and then 45 two days later.'

He unbuttoned his suit jacket and slid it off his arms as he spoke, handed it to her as they walked back out onto the sidewalk. She looked up at him, 'What?'

He shook the jacket in his hand, 'Take it. You're cold.'

She sighed, 'I'm not - '

James groaned, opened the jacket himself, leaned around, set it on her shoulders. 'You can put your arms in or not, but I'm not taking it back until we get you into the hotel.'

She was going to protest, but the jacket was still warm from having been on his body, and it smelled _so_ good, that whatever she was going to say died before it even rose to her lips. It was earthy and spicy and woodsy and fresh and she had no idea how he managed to smell this good, but she didn't hate it and she _certainly_ didn't hate having it wrapped around her.

They laughed about the radio station selections on the drive back to her hotel ('Wow, so it really is just Jesus, country, and the GOP down here, isn't it?') and when they pulled into the drop off spots outside the Carolina Inn, James shut the car off and climbed out of the car. Lily scrambled out, shut the door behind her, met him in front of the car.

'Where are you going?'

James grinned at her, 'I've got to walk you to your door, now don't I?'

She rolled her eyes, 'Being a Georgia peach again, I see.'

James snorted, 'You caught me.'

He nodded at the men working the valet stand, said 'Evening,' as he walked past them, pulled open one of the double doors and gestured for Lily to walk ahead of him. She raised her eyebrow at him as she walked by, he shot her a wink, and she laughed before she could stop herself, shaking her head as she turned to face him in the lobby.

They shifted over to the side, near a pair of light pink high back armchairs, and Lily tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as she looked up at him. 'I had a nice night,' she said, and, for just a moment, it felt more like he was walking her home after a date than after what was, basically, part of a job interview.

He nodded, swallowed, 'I did, too.'

He looked at her then, his gaze travelling slowly over her face, down her neck, over her shoulders, and Lily felt her heart rate pick up, felt the urge to step closer, brush her fingers along the buttons on the front of his crisp white shirt, wrap his tie around her hand and pull him to her.

James cleared his throat, swallowed again, 'So, did you, uh… did you have any questions about the department that I didn't answer? I know we got a bit off track earlier…'

He ran a hand through his hair again, jostling his glasses a bit in his haste. She bit back a smile as he adjusted them, shook her head, 'No, I, uh - I'll talk to Al about anything that might come up before I leave tomorrow, but I think I got it.'

James nodded and Lily rocked back and forth for a moment, shifting her weight from her heels to the balls of her feet. She cleared her throat, 'Okay, well, I should probably,' she tipped her head towards the back of the hotel, and James nodded, 'Yeah,' he cleared his throat, 'yeah, you should. Long day tomorrow and all that.'

She hummed in agreement, 'Luckily my flight leaves at two, so it won't be too long a day.'

'Oh, well, that's good.'

'Yeah.'

Silence fell between them, both of them on the verge of speech, but not quite sure what to say. After a minute, Lily finally cleared her throat, 'Alright, uh, good night, James.'

He ran his hand through his hair, 'Good night, Lily.'

She almost turned to leave before she remembered. She shrugged out of James' coat, immediately missing the warmth (and the smell), and handed it back to him. James accepted it with a nod, a look on his face that she couldn't quite interpret.

'Thanks,' she said, and she dropped her gaze for a moment before she met his eyes again, 'it really did help with the cold.'

James chuckled, 'See what happens when you stop being so damn stubborn?'

She laughed, started walking slowly backwards towards the elevators, 'Well, don't think that you've started some kind of trend. I'm made of iron will.'

James smiled as she retreated, bit the corner of his lip, 'Don't I know it, Evans.'

She took a few more backward steps, her eyes trained on his, before she raised her hand once more, turned on her heel, and disappeared down the corridor.

She practically mainlined a gallon of coffee when she woke up the next morning, and so she decided to walk to campus, crossing her fingers that she would remember to go south today instead of going north and getting fucking lost like yesterday.

She made it to Venable with loads of time to spare, so she let herself take time to walk around Polk Place and look at the buildings. She didn't know which departments were in these buildings, but she was sure that she would need to at least know the names of the damn things eventually, and it was best that she worked off some of her energy so that Al didn't end up thinking that she was completely manic.

It ended up taking a lot more self control than she'd anticipated to keep herself appearing decently calm, though, once she'd gotten into the meeting. Al, it turned out, had worked with her mentor at Columbia, and they spent the first few minutes of the meeting chatting about Horace and the recent work they'd been doing in his lab back in New York. That was all well and good, all easy to handle, but then Al had looked her dead in the eyes and told her that he would be offering her the job right then and there if they didn't have another candidate coming next week, and she was honestly surprised that she didn't die right on the spot.

She managed to get through the rest of the meeting, chatted about salary and leave and department requirements, and when she left Al's office an hour later, she barely kept herself from skipping down the corridor. She let the smile overwhelm her face when she walked out of the front doors, let the _tiniest_ skip work it's way into her step, and she was _this close_ to letting out a small whoop when she noticed him standing over by the seating area.

James was standing there, one hand in his hair, the other in his trouser pocket, wearing a long wool overcoat and what appeared to be a full suit underneath. She was surprised to see him there, but smiled as soon as she noticed him, started shaking her head when their eyes met. His gaze slid from hers as she crossed the sidewalk towards him, travelled over her body before meeting her eyes again.

'Another full suit,' she said as she came to a stop in front of him, 'This can't be a department dress code thing, because Al was upstairs in a polo and khakis, and I'm _pretty_ sure that's the fanciest shit he owns.'

James laughed, ran a hand through his hair, 'You'd be right on that. But what can I say, I like to impress.'

She started walking back across campus towards her hotel, and James fell into step beside her.

'Who are you trying to impress?' She tilted her head up at him, raised an eyebrow, and James chuckled, but it was a bit awkward this time, a bit nervous.

He hesitated for just a moment before he licked his bottom lip and his eyes found hers, 'I would have thought that was obvious.'

It took a moment for the words to fully hit her, but when they did, it made her suck in a sharp breath. 'I'll warn you now,' she said, doing her best to keep her tone light and teasing, 'I'm a tough sell.'

James grinned, 'I think I'm up to the task, Evans.'

She rolled her eyes, but damn if she didn't hope he was right.

He asked her about her meeting with Al, laughed and shouted, 'I TOLD YOU,' when she told him how well it had gone. 'So you'll be on the faculty in the fall,' James said, 'how do you feel?'

She breathed a laugh, 'So much fucking better. I've been so anxious for like… years, and now I don't have to worry? I'm sure I'll start again in August once I'm teaching and researching and juggling a million fucking things again, but now I get to just relax?'

James grinned, 'I remember that feeling so vividly. I miss it every day.'

They stopped on the porch of the Carolina Inn, and James ran a hand through his hair again, 'When's your flight again?'

'Two hours,' she said, checking her watch, 'so I'm going to head over now.'

James nodded, 'How are you getting there?'

'Well, I was just going to call a car - '

He shook his head, 'I'll take you.'

'Do you have your car?'

James nodded, 'Yeah, it's just in that parking lot we passed,' he pointed behind them, 'I can go grab it and meet you back here after you're done checking out.'

'Are you sure?' She wanted to give him one more chance to back out, especially because she was sure that he had better things he could be doing on a Saturday morning. James nodded, 'Absolutely. I'll meet you back here in ten?'

Lily agreed and James was striding back across the sidewalk before she even turned around.

She grabbed her bag from her room, did one final sweep of the place before she headed downstairs to check out. The guy at the checkout desk was nice (as always, a little too nice), and wanted to talk about her stay, her time in Chapel Hill, what she'd gotten to see, what she should do the next time that she was there. She did her best to listen, but then she turned and spotted James standing on the other side of the lobby, his wool jacket unbuttoned, the sides pushed back, his hands in his pockets, and _well._ James noticed her looking, and his mouth hitched up just a bit - she flushed and turned back to the desk.

After about a dozen more unnecessary suggestions from the concierge, she'd finally successfully checked out. Lily grabbed her bag, shouted a final goodbye over her shoulder at the concierge, and walked across the lobby towards James. His smile widened as she walked towards him, his eyebrow arched in amusement, and she rolled her eyes at him.

She bumped her elbow against his when she reached him, 'Shut up,' and walked past him, out the door, onto the porch. James' loud, booming laugh echoed behind her as she crossed the porch and walked down onto the brick sidewalk towards his car.

James popped the trunk when they reached it, lifted the bag out of Lily's hands, and slid it into the back before she could protest. 'Excuse me,' she said, walking towards the front of the car and sliding into the passenger seat, 'I could have done that myself.'

James grinned, clicked his seatbelt on, 'I know.'

'And yet - ' she said, clicking her seatbelt on while James put the car into gear. James just smirked, 'I can't help that I like annoying you, Evans.'

'Yes, Potter,' she said, leaning forward and clicking through the presets on his radio, 'yes you fucking can.'

They chatted as they drove, Lily laughing again at how bad the radio stations were. James tried to convince her that she would get used to it, but Lily was sceptical.

'So,' James said as they merged onto 40, 'do you think you'll take the job when Al offers it to you?'

Lily snorted, 'Are you fucking kidding me? Of course I'm going to take it.'

James laughed, ran a hand through his hair before returning it to the steering wheel. 'Well, I don't know,' he said, 'maybe you really hated it here.'

He shot her a brief look, his eyes flicking over her before he looked back at the road. She shook her head, 'No, I uh…' she bit her lip, 'I think that I could really like it here.'

James hummed but didn't look away from the road, 'You think?'

'Yeah,' she said, letting her gaze move over his profile, his mad hair, the black stubble coating his sharp jaw, his broad shoulders, 'I think I could.'

James turned, let his eyes find hers again, 'I hope so.'

When they pulled into the airport fifteen minutes later, there was an absurdly long line at the drop off, and she and James passed the time talking about all the things she'd need to do when she came back to Chapel Hill. He told her that he was going to take her to the farmer's market, that she had to meet the people who gave out the mojito recipes ('They give me the recipe every single time I buy mint from them, it's so cute'), and that she absolutely _had_ to go to Southern Seasons with him because she would _die_ when she saw the giant coffee wall.

She laughed, nodded along as he listed off places they needed to go, swore up and down that she would accompany him to every single one as long as he promised her coffee and food.

'Maybe I could get your number,' she said, averting her eyes for a moment before she met his gaze again, 'So, you know, we can actually do these things when I move here.'

'Oh,' James said, and he reached into his jacket pocket, fumbled around for his phone, 'uh, yeah, yeah, good idea.'

He handed her his phone and she glanced at it, laughed awkwardly, 'You need to unlock it.'

He breathed a laugh, 'Shit, yeah, sorry,' leaned over, pressed his thumb to the home button, and his phone lit up. She opened up his messages, typed out a quick message to herself, and handed his phone back to him.

'I just texted myself,' she said, 'is that alright?'

James clicked around on his phone, probably entering in her number in his contacts. 'Yeah,' he said, glancing over at her and grinning, 'that's perfect.'

The drop off line slid forward a few more cars, and Lily felt her stomach start to clench at the idea of getting out and walking away from something that wasn't _really_ something, but felt like it was on the verge of becoming something. She pulled her cellphone out of her jacket pocket, entered James' number into her contacts, and turned the phone nervously around in her hands.

'Nervous flier,' James asked, shooting her another look as the line moved up a bit more.

'No,' she said, still fiddling with her phone, 'just, uh…'

She fell silent, unsure of what to say or how to phrase it, how to explain that she wanted to see him again when she moved to Chapel Hill ( _if_ she moved to Chapel Hill - Al had seemed pretty damn certain, but if academia had taught her one thing, it was to never get too excited before the signed contract is in your hands) - it was probably just that simple, an easy 'I'd like to see you again when I get here,' but she was nervous about the distance building a wall, breaking something that wasn't honestly even something that could be broken yet.

They pulled up into the next drop off spot, and James undid his seatbelt, turned in his seat to study her while he waited for the rest of her sentence. Even if she'd managed to figure out what she wanted to say, she would have lost the thread again when he looked at her. His hazel eyes were dark, a rich amber with flecks of warm brown, and when they burned into her like that it made her heart stutter in her chest and her breathing sharp and shallow. She leaned over just a bit, her gaze flicking between his eyes and his lips, her breath catching in her chest as she tried to talk herself out of doing the one thing that she now couldn't get out of her head. James mimicked her, leaned just a bit, his elbow resting on the centre console, his eyes lingering longer and longer over her lips.

She was just about to say fuck it, lean the rest of the way, bury her fingers in the hair at the base of his neck and kiss him, when someone sounded their horn behind them and she jumped.

'Oh, fuck off,' she said, probably a bit louder than she should have, and she held her hand up at the guy through the back windshield. James laughed, the bubble they'd been in effectively burst, 'You're so New York!'

She gave him the finger, too, which just made him laugh harder, shake his head at her. 'We should get out, though,' James said, and he leaned back across the car, popped the trunk, and climbed out. Lily scrambled out of her side of the car, desperate to get her bag from the back before James did, but he'd already gotten her bag out and on the ground when she got around the back of the car.

She sighed, 'I was hoping I'd beat you.'

James laughed, 'Gotta be faster than that if you want to stop me being a gentleman, Evans.'

Lily pretended up gag and James grinned, 'You love it.' She rolled her eyes.

They lapsed back into a moment of silence, both unsure how to handle this goodbye, but desperate to handle it before anymore assholes decided to start beeping at them. James stuck out his hand just when Lily had leaned forward, started pressing herself up onto her toes, and they both laughed awkwardly. James reached up and buried his hand in his hair again, shifted his weight from one foot to the next, and though she was nervous and knew that this could absolutely be the wrong decision, she'd had enough of it.

She stepped forward, leaned up onto her toes, reached up and wrapped her hand around the base of his neck, pulled his mouth to hers. She kissed him lightly, chastely, just brushed her lips against his, but she could already tell that she'd made a colossal mistake, because James' hands had jumped immediately to her waist and his lips were so fucking soft and he smelled so ridiculously good and now all she wanted to do was press herself up against him completely and push that stupid wool jacket off of his shoulders and have her way with him.

As they were standing in the middle of the airport drop off, though, she didn't do any of those things. Instead, she lowered herself back down onto her feet, took a step back (James let his fingers trail over her sides as she went and that alone seriously tested her resolve). She sighed, breathed a laugh, 'So, uh, I'm going to go, now?'

James nodded, licked his bottom lip, and though he looked like he was going to step closer to her and kiss her again, he stayed where he was. 'Yeah,' he said, 'you don't want to miss your flight.'

She nodded absently, much more interested in her next question than in the flight she had to catch, 'I'll see you when I'm back here? Assuming I get the job?'

James was nodding fervently before she even finished her sentence, 'Without a fucking doubt, Evans.'

She grinned, 'Uh oh, Potter, you're going to catch my New York if you're not careful.'

He laughed, reached over, grabbed her hand, squeezed it in his. 'I'd say that's worth it, Evans.'

She bit the corner of her lip, and James squeezed her hand for just a moment more before he dropped it, let his hand fall back to his side. 'You better get going,' he said, 'or you'll miss your flight.'

Lily nodded, grabbed the handle of her bag, turned, and started towards the door. She managed to keep herself from looking until she was a few feet away from the entrance before she turned around. James was standing there, his elbows on the top of his car, watching her go, and he smiled, waved when he caught her eye. She beamed, waved one last time, and, before she could talk herself out of it, walked into the airport.

* * *

 **Surprise, this is a two shot. Chapter two up next Sunday x**


	2. Chapter 2

**Had to drop a tiny** _ **In the Heights**_ **reference because I literally just had to. I love Lin** _ **almost**_ **as much as I love James Potter and you guys - that's fucking saying something.**

 **And to the FF anon worried about my sanity - I got your smut right here, my friend, don't you worry (though omg I know, a two shot?! I'M SHOOKETH)**

* * *

Six months later, Lily was really, _really_ starting to regret her decision to move south.

It wasn't like New York was a beautiful paradise in the summer, far from it, but North Carolina… North Carolina was a whole new fucking level.

It was _hot_ and humid and she couldn't go outside for more than two seconds before she was sweating so profusely that she was honestly surprised she wasn't just a human puddle at this point, but her house (her fucking _house_ ) had central air and that definitely helped.

She'd taken to wandering around Carrboro when it wasn't too hot, heading out early in the morning and late in the evening when the sun wasn't trying to boil her alive. Sometimes she texted James and he met her, took her to all the best food places he knew of in town, but most of the time she walked around by herself, tried to get to know the area that she was now going to be spending… well, an absurd number of years. Like, probably the rest of her fucking life.

She tried not think about the timing too much, because it made her hyperventilate a little bit.

She found a yoga studio near the co-op that James had pointed out on her interview, found a few small shops in town that had quirky shit she'd bought to send to her friends (and to fill up some of the truly obnoxious amount of space in her house). She wandered around campus, tried to memorise a number of routes from the parking lot to her office in Kenan, tried to find the best coffee shop on campus so that when she was inevitably dying after a long day in the lab, she knew right where to go and what to order. She drove around in the middle of the day, something that she hadn't done in _years,_ tried to memorise the road numbers (because for some reason, these roads all had multiple numbers attached to them and she could never remember which fucking numbers went with which fucking road). It had taken some time to get used to driving again (and to drive without nearly having a stress-related stroke because _fucking hell_ no one in North Carolina knew how to fucking drive), but over time, and with a lot of very loud music, she managed to make it around the Triangle without her navigation and without wanting to murder anyone (or, at least, more than like two or three people).

She'd started to really like Carrboro, something that still shocked her to her _core_ whenever it registered in her mind. There were a lot of things wrong with the place (people fucking talked to her on the streets, everything had to take eight fucking years, people were so friendly that she spent 90% of her time in public convinced that someone was being nice just so they could lure her into a van or something), but she liked, strangely, how easy it was here, how quiet it was. She'd never stop missing New York, the way the streets vibrated all the time with motion and sound, the way that people knocked into you and didn't bother apologising, the way that you could just duck your head and do what you needed to do without anyone fucking pestering you, but the quiet turned out to be more appealing than she'd ever thought it would be. She'd taken to sitting out on her front porch at night, something that she still couldn't believe that she had, a glass of something in her hand (usually wine), and just listening to the sound of the absolute silence that settled as soon as the sun fell.

She and James had kept in touch over the summer just as they'd promised, just little messages here and there. She asked him about moving suggestions, places to look to live, that kind of thing at first, but as they settled into one another, their conversations morphed into more intimate ones. He sent her a picture of himself in a tux in early June when he married his best friends (something she still couldn't believe they let him do), started sending her pictures of all the fruit at the farmer's market every Saturday with some kind of caption that, she supposed, was meant to entice her ( _I bet you're berry excited to move here and enjoy all this delicious food!_ ) - she laughed more often than she would ever admit.

She'd been worried, after their scene at the airport, that she'd move down to Carolina and he would either expect a lot of her right away, or they'd have lost that initial spark that had drawn them together, having been apart for so long after such a short burst of initial contact. She wasn't sure which would have been worse, but she was also far too focused on her own tumultuous ass life to think about it too much.

But just like Carrboro, James had grown on her. He'd settled easily into her life, clicked right into place even amidst all the upheaval that was the rest of her fucking existence. There were days that she didn't know which end was up, when she was annoyed that she had to get into her fucking _car_ and drive to the grocery store instead of just popping a block down the road to her bodega (which she missed desperately), when she was downright pissed at how boring it could be there, at how little there was to do, and James was always right there, thinking of something weird and _so_ North Carolina that they could do together. When she texted him in a rage that it had taken her an hour to walk back to her house from the co-op because people kept stopping to talk to her, he picked up a pizza and a bunch of donuts from the bakery he knew she loved, sat in her house with her for the rest of the evening, watched tv on her couch, and let her ignore him. When she complained that there was _literally nothing to fucking do,_ he picked her up, told her he was taking her on a surprise adventure (the adventure ended at the state fair and Lily had more fun that she'd ever expected to have in the presence of farm animals).

She could tell, from the way she caught him looking at her, the way his hands lingered on her lower back, brushed along her sides when he hugged her, the way he always ended up with his thigh pressed against hers when they shared her couch, that he was still interested in her, but he seemed content to let her direct the pace, to let her tell him when (and _if_ ) she was ready for anything more. She still thought about it a lot, still thought about _him_ a lot, but for the first few months that she was in Carrboro, she was far too busy to give him anything more than a passing thought. She was moving into her house, trying to remember how to drive, desperately missing New York and Marlene and Dorcas and Mary and Benjy, trying to figure out how to teach (because apparently she'd forgotten), getting used to her new lab. Nothing in her life was stable, and the safety net she'd had back home had been pulled out from under her.

She was only mildly ashamed to admit that she'd called Marlene sobbing at least twice a week in the beginning.

Eventually, though, she managed to get into something of a rhythm - she set up a regular call schedule with her friends, talked with each of them at least once a week. Marlene and Dorcas, non-academics as they were, had stayed in New York, but the others were all over the country now, and the time difference never failed to throw her for a loop for the first few weeks. Mary was only one hour behind in Wisconsin, so they managed to work their conversation out easily, but Benjy was three hours behind in Los Angeles, and it took them a little bit longer to get used to it. They eventually just gave into the fact that waking up to a load of text messages, ones that Lily had sent him in the early morning, ones that he'd sent her while he was gallivanting around LA meeting movie stars or whatever it was you did out there, was going to be their new normal.

They'd had it all figured out, but it still didn't stop her from missing them constantly.

They'd all returned to New York for Thanksgiving, though, had gathered in Marlene and Dorcas' apartment just like they'd always done, sat around and drank endless amounts of wine, teased Dorcas endlessly about her obsession with kombucha, started in on Benjy when he tried to sell them on the glories of Los Angeles. Lily visited her old bodega and nearly cried in the middle of the fucking thing (she'd had to shout a good-natured fuck off at Usnavi who was laughing at her from behind the cash register before she bought a ton of her favourite things to mail back to her new house).

When she returned to Chapel Hill at the end of November, she was surprised that it felt a bit like coming home. It wasn't New York, it would never be New York, the city that made her catch her breath, made her whole fucking body feel alive, the city that she knew like the back of her hand and loved unconditionally, but Carrboro was, somehow, something of a home.

She texted James when she landed in Raleigh ( _I'm at the American gate, I told you I was flying American right?_ ) and walked out to the pickup platforms and started scanning. Her phone started buzzing in her hand a moment later and she answered it without even having to look, 'Hey, James.'

He laughed, 'Hey, Evans. I'm over here.'

She rolled her eyes, 'Very descriptive,' and started scanning the sea of cars in front of her.

'To your left,' James said, still laughing, and Lily turned, saw James leaning up against the passenger side of the car, his hand in the air. She grinned, 'See you in a sec,' and hung up, started walking quickly across the sidewalk. She pulled James into a hug when she reached him, taking a moment to press her nose into his chest before she pulled away and smiled at him. James was beaming, absolutely beaming, and no matter how often he looked at her like that, it never stopped making her heart hurt.

'How was your flight?' He pulled his keys out of his pocket and popped the trunk so that Lily could throw her bag in (a fight he'd finally given up on), opened the door for her when she walked back up the passenger side (a fight he would never stop fighting). 'I survived it,' she said, laughing as she slid into the car, snapped her seatbelt on. James walked around, climbed in beside her, and Lily started fiddling with the radio while James buckled up and put the car into gear.

'Missed North Carolina radio,' he asked, shooting her a quick, amused look. She snorted, 'Yeah, I really missed Rush Limbaugh's stupid fucking voice screaming at me every two seconds as I clicked uselessly through the radio stations.'

James groaned, 'Fuck, alright. You win this round, Evans.'

'Don't I win _every_ round, Potter?' She raised her eyebrow at him; he bit back a smile, shook his head.

They chatted about her flight, her time in New York as they pulled out of the airport and onto 40, before Lily asked him what his plans were for the night ahead. 'I was hanging out with Sirius and Remus before I came to get you, but they have some kind of dinner date thing tonight? I think Remus is taking Sirius to a jazz club because Sirius was pissing him off yesterday.'

Lily laughed, 'But Remus _also_ hates jazz?'

James shook his head, 'I know. He just doesn't hate it as vehemently as Sirius does, so I think he's willing to make the sacrifice.'

LIly snorted, 'Nobody hates _anything_ as vehemently as Sirius does.'

James laughed, 'Good point.'

Since moving to Carrboro, she'd learned that James, Remus, and Sirius were something of a package deal, and most of the time that she and James spent together was in the company of the other two. James had felt bad about it the first time, texted her a million times before they met at the bar to confirm that she was _honestly alright with it, really it's fine if you're not,_ but once she'd met them, they'd become such fast friends that James didn't bother after that.

She and Sirius had started meeting weekly for coffee in mid-September, and she and Remus now got to do all the 'cultured person' things that James and Sirius never wanted to do. James and Sirius had argued that it wasn't that they were uncultured, it was just that staring at canvasses painted slightly different shades of white was boring as _fuck,_ but Lily and Remus never cared - when they couldn't drag the other two with them, they went to Raleigh on their own and treated themselves to a quiet night. More often than not, though, the four of them hung out together at Belltree, their local bar, drank and laughed until they couldn't see straight (or Sirius started screaming even louder than he usually did, whichever came first).

She'd never expected, especially if she took a step back and considered them, that _these_ were the people that she was going to fall in with when she moved to North Carolina, that these fucking idiots were going to make her feel like she was, somehow, at home. But Sirius' extra-ness, his loud, no-fucks way of approaching the world reminded her of Marlene, Remus' calm, steady head and scathing sarcasm made him some bizarre blend of Dorcas and Mary, and James was just - he was _James._

The first few weeks after she'd moved had been really hard, harder than she'd ever expected, but James had always been there, right by her side, giving her support, an ear to vent, or even (embarrassingly) a shoulder to cry on. Once she'd gotten comfortable in Carrboro, in her lab, at UNC, and she'd gotten used to the fact that she wasn't around her usual cast of characters every day, she realised that James had slotted himself into her life, had become a new constant to fill at least _one_ of the empty slots that had opened up once she'd left New York. Remus and Sirius had filled up a few more, but James had always been there right from the start.

She'd brought this up one night in early November while she was talking with Marlene, her phone cradled between her ear and shoulder while she marked chemistry exams.

'I'm just so glad that I had James, you know,' she said, twirling the pen around in her hand as she looked up from the fifth incorrect response on this poor kid's test, 'this place grew on me I guess, but - '

'James helped,' Marlene said, finishing Lily's sentence. Lily hummed in agreement, went back to marking ( _those are not valence electrons see ch 6 again_ ). 'So,' Marlene said, and Lily detected a shift in her voice that made her nervous, 'why do you think that is?'

Is was a leading question and they both knew it. Lily shrugged, 'Fuck if I know, Mar. I'm sure you have a hypothesis?'

Marlene snorted, 'You can't ever just say theory like a normal person.'

'Because it's _wrong,_ it leads to - '

'Yeah, yeah, yeah,' Marlene said, and Lily could tell from the way that she was talking that she was waving her hand through the air, 'some sciencey bullshit, whatever.'

Lily opened her mouth to protest, but Marlene shouted over her, 'I know you're trying to fight me but I literally don't care about this so just give it up. I do have a _hypothesis_ if you're interested in hearing it.'

Lily sighed, wrote a grade on top of the exam paper, started grading the next, 'I'm sure you'll tell me either way, so why don't you just go ahead.'

'I think you like him.'

'No fucking shit I like him. We're friends.'

'Lily, you kissed him when he took you to the airport back in February.'

'That was months ago! And he hasn't made any moves since.'

'First of all, you haven't either. And second, you were moving and like, actually batshit for a while. Of course he's not going to make a move when you can't even keep your head on straight. You needed time to adjust and shit.'

Lily groaned, thankful that this exam was at least easier to grade if she was going to have to have this fucking conversation with Marlene. 'Look,' Lily said, 'I - fuck, okay, yes, you're right, I do like him. Okay, I do. But - ugh, I don't know, okay? Just - not right now.'

'Why not?'

'Because,' she dropped the pen down onto the stack of exams, grabbed the phone in her hand, leaned back on the couch, and pressed her free palm to her forehead, 'fuck, Mar, I don't know. It just feels awkward to do anything about it now. It's fucking _November_ , I've been here since August and neither of us has done anything. Maybe that's for a reason?'

'Yeah,' Marlene said, and Lily could tell from her tone of voice that she was rolling her eyes, 'you're both fucking idiots.'

Marlene had dropped it at the time, switched to complaining about some buyer Dorcas had been dealing with lately, but she'd made sure to bring it up again when Lily had come home for Thanksgiving. And once Marlene got going on it, everyone else (Benjy especially) started _seriously_ dragging her about it while simultaneously offering the world's worst seduction tips ('Do the bend and snap, Lily!' 'OH MY GOD NO BUT ACTUALLY!').

They needn't have bothered really, because Lily hadn't stopped turning it around in the back of her mind since she and Marlene had talked about it.

There was no denying that she and James had chemistry (absolutely electric fucking chemistry), but they'd been solid and comfortable for so long now that she was afraid to do anything that might fuck it up. She didn't think James would be the type of guy to use a failed romantic start as an excuse to end a friendship, but she would have to take a step back for a while, recoup. And what if it made things awkward with Sirius and Remus? She doubted it, logically, but the anxious side of her brain was a fucking asshole and loved getting her to spin out on this shit whenever possible.

But the more that she thought about it, the more her anxious brain was shunted to the side. She _liked_ James, a lot (maybe even more than a lot), and she knew (from the way he looked at her and the way Sirius sometimes made fun of him) that he liked her, too. There was nothing, literally nothing, holding her back except her own fear and anxiety at this point and… well, fuck that.

Living in the south was not going to make her soft. She was a New Yorker for fucks sake.

They chatted about his 'Friendsgiving' with Remus and Sirius for the rest of the drive home, and when they pulled up to her house a little while later, Lily invited James in for drinks as a thank you for being her chauffeur (again).

'It's really no big deal,' James said, as he grabbed her suitcase from the trunk and carried it to her door, 'I like driving you to the airport.'

She shot him a look as she fumbled through her bag for her keys, 'No one _likes_ driving to the airport, James.'

He laughed, ran his free hand through his hair, 'No, but I _do_ like driving you _._ '

She'd finally managed to find her keys when he said it, and his words sent a jolt through her that made her fumble and drop them on the ground.

'Fuck.' Lily bent down, grabbed the keys, and opened the door while James chuckled about how clumsy she was. She closed the door behind James and told him to fuck off.

They kicked their shoes off in the entrance, and James turned immediately to carry her bag upstairs to her room. Lily sighed when he started walking up the stairs, shouted 'You really don't have to do that!'

James just waved her off with his free hand, 'Save your breath, Evans.'

'Oh, hey, wait' she opened up her purse and grabbed her phone out, 'can you stick this on the charger for me?' James turned around, jogged back down a few stairs, and took her phone. She grinned, 'Thank you.' James just smiled, 'No problem,' and started back up the stairs.

She walked into the kitchen to make drinks while she waited for James to come back downstairs. 'Hey,' she called, opening up the fridge to take stock of what she had, 'what do you want to drink?'

'Whatever you want,' James called back. She sighed, mumbled 'Of fucking course, Jesus Christ,' under her breath.

She closed the fridge and grabbed a bottle of Cabernet from the wine rack in the corner, popped an aerator on, and poured out two (very full) glasses. James walked into the kitchen a moment later, grinned at her when she handed him his glass. 'I should have known that you were going to choose wine.'

She grinned, 'Maybe you'll actually make a decision next time.' James laughed, shook his head at her, but she just took a long, slow pull of her wine, let the flavours really coat her tongue, and hummed happily.

'Fucking hell, I love this Cab.'

James swirled his wine a bit in his glass, took a small sip, 'Yeah, it's alright. Though the tannins are a bit thick, maybe because of the overall composition.' He slipped into a very obnoxious, aristocratic accent and she smacked his arm, 'Shut up, that doesn't even make sense.'

James laughed, took a long drag of his wine, 'I know, but you know I can't resist pissing you off when I can, Evans.'

She scoffed, 'Why would your fake wine knowledge piss me off? I'm not some fucking wine snob or anything.'

'Yeah,' James said, his eyes shining with amusement, 'that's why you have an aerator.'

She swiped at him again, but he slid out of her reach into the living room, laughing all the while. She shook her head, took another long drink of wine as she followed him, 'You are so lucky I love you, I swear to god.'

James dropped onto her couch, a bit more recklessly than she would have with a full glass of wine in her hand, and patted the spot next to him. She rolled her eyes, but sat, tucked one leg up underneath her, turned so that she was facing him. He set his elbow on the back of the sofa and though he smiled at her, his face was a touch more serious now as he studied her.

She took another sip of wine. 'What?'

He studied her for a moment longer. 'How are you doing?'

She must have looked a bit confused, because he immediately clarified, 'Being back. I'm sure it was hard going home and then having to get back on a plane.'

'Oh,' Lily said. She took another drink of wine and then leaned over, set her glass on the table, 'Yeah, I'm fine.'

James raised an eyebrow, 'This isn't some like, tough outer shell, "I'm a rough and tumble New Yorker, don't fuck with me" thing is it?' He'd slid into a truly horrendous New York accent and Lily was glad that she'd set her wine down because she was doubled over with laughter about two words into his impersonation. James was soon laughing with her, and when she'd gotten herself together enough to properly open her eyes again, she realised that they were sitting a lot closer together now, that she was leaning into him just a touch.

James didn't move away, just leaned forward to set his wine on the table before he settled back onto the couch, rested his head on his hand, looked at her. His eyes were warm, soft hazel, and every time he looked at her like that, her heart swelled in her chest. He felt like home, a loving, steady presence that kept her grounded, brought her back down to earth when she felt like she was spiralling away. It was funny, really, that _he_ was the one that grounded her - he was loud and bold and a bit reckless and more than a touch stubborn. But Lily was those things too, she was those things amplified, but he was loud when she didn't need to be, she was bold when he was inclined to hang back, so it made sense that he understood her, that he let her float along and scream (because she didn't exactly _have_ a normal talking voice) beside him without feeling like he needed to get her to simmer down. She'd never been in a relationship before where it had been this easy, when the person she was with didn't actively tell her to calm down, grow up, get it together. He'd supported her when she needed it, walked beside her when she didn't, and before she knew it was even happening, he'd become one of the most important people in her life.

'James - '

'Evans - '

They both laughed, James ran a hand through his hair, and Lily cleared her throat, tried not to lose what nerve she'd mustered. James, though, apparently wasn't having a problem with his nerves, because his eyes stayed trained on hers.

'Lily, do you, uh… do you remember when I took you to the airport in February?'

She pulled in a sharp breath, nodded, 'Y-yeah.' She cleared her throat again, and James smiled, let his head come up off of his hand.

'I've, uh,' he laid his arm down along the back of the sofa, his fingertips just brushing the pieces of her hair that had fallen there, 'I've thought about the way you kissed me every single day since.'

He swallowed. She sucked in another sharp breath, and before she could talk herself out of it, she lifted her hand off of her thigh, and rested it on his knee. His eyes left hers briefly to look down at her hand, and when his gaze found hers again, his eyes were darker, more intense. Her breath caught.

There were a million things that she could say in that moment, an infinite number of ways to explain to him that she liked him, more than liked him, that she'd wanted to wait until she was settled down and had her head on straight, but now she was settled, and there was literally no sense in waiting any longer, but then she didn't have time to say any of it, because the hand he'd been resting on the back of the couch was suddenly buried in her hair and James had leaned forward to kiss her.

It was, at first, a bit like their kiss at the airport, his lips pressing lightly, a bit hesitantly, against hers, as if trying to gauge how she was feeling, to decide if this was too much or not enough. It was like that at first, but then her hand slid from his knee to his waist, she pulled herself closer to him (damn near landing in his lap), and when James groaned, Lily took the opportunity to deepen the kiss, and then it was nothing, _nothing_ , like their airport kiss.

Her hands ran over his sides, his chest, across his shoulders, across every bit of him that she could reach before her fingers sunk into the hair at the base of his neck. Lily was trying to touch everything, to take in every little piece of him, but James preferred lighter, barely detectable touches (a soft graze of his fingertips along her neck, the ghost of a palm over her hip) that made her hyperaware of everything he did, and left her practically panting with want. She'd gotten so used to the slighter touches, was so focused on what he was doing to make sure that she didn't miss anything, that when he changed tack, increased the pressure of his hands on her, she would have sworn that he'd lit her nerves on fire. She moaned loudly into his mouth when James' hands slid up the back of her shirt and he pressed her into him.

He smiled against her then, obviously pleased with himself, and she broke the kiss, moved to kiss along his jaw, the side of his neck, before she took the bottom of his earlobe lightly between her teeth.

'Take it off,' she said, kissing the shell of his ear.

James groaned, leaned into her touch. 'Your shirt?'

She nodded, 'Now.'

James chuckled, said, 'As you wish, darlin',' but he didn't waste any time getting her shirt off and tossing it to the floor.

The air was cold against her hot skin, and the sensations, the cold A/C, his hands running over her, her blood running hot with need, collided and made her desperate for more. He moved to kiss her neck, her collarbone, the underside of her jaw, and the feeling of his mouth on her neck, his increasingly hard erection underneath her, and his hands all over the rest of her was starting to make her desperate. She moved her hands from his neck, pulled his t shirt up and over his head, a _bit_ carefully so she didn't knock his glasses loose, started fiddling with the button on his jeans before the shirt even hit the floor.

'Evans,' she felt more than heard him, and she groaned, pressed herself closer to him. 'Are you - ' she shifted against him and he swore, ' _fuck_ , Lily, you - you want this? You're sure?'

'Fuck James,' she finally managed to unbutton his jeans, 'yes. Yes I fucking want this.'

'Then,' James' hands moved to her hips and he slid her off of him (she groaned in annoyance) before he stood, reached down to take her hand, 'we're going to do this right.'

'What - '

He pulled her to her feet and started walking them up the hallway, his thumb brushing lightly against the underside of her wrist as they climbed the stairs. 'You don't have to be on a bed to fuck, you know,' Lily said, laughing as he pulled them into her room. James turned her so that she was in front of him, pulled her close, ran his hand along her neck, his thumb brushing briefly against her cheek, 'We can fuck on the couch next time.' She was going to sass him, say that he was awfully presumptuous, but then he kissed her again, deeper, slower, more intensely, and she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that there would most certainly be a next time.

He walked them slowly through the room, his hands tracing a bit more firmly across her skin, moving in long, smooth lines, and Lily was so focused on the way every single bit of her was coming alive, on how fucking much she wanted him, that she breathed out a surprised laugh when her knees hit the bed.

James unhooked her bra, dropped it onto the ground before his hands moved and started unbuttoning her jeans, pushing them to the floor as he lifted her onto the bed, and she slid back across the blankets. Her breathing was quicker, shallower, as James climbed up onto the bed, dropping kisses as he went. He kissed her knee, the inside of her thigh, over her hip bone, and just when she thought that he was going to move up, he settled between her thighs and wrapped his fingers around the waistband of her underwear.

She sucked in a sharp breath and James looked up at her, a devilish smirk playing on his lips. 'Is this alright,' he asked, and his breath was hot against her, and she arched, moaned, 'What do you think?'

James wrapped his arm around her hips, pressed her back down into the bed. 'Sorry,' he said, turning to press a kiss to the inside of her thigh, 'yes or no answers only.'

She groaned, but it morphed into a moan when he kissed her through her underwear. 'Yes, _fuck,'_ her hips pressed up into his arm, but James just increased the pressure, pushed her down onto the bed, 'James, _please.'_

He pushed himself up onto his knees, slid her underwear down over her legs, dropped them off the side of the bed. He took his glasses off, too, tossed them up onto her bedside table, settled back between her thighs, laid an arm across her hips.

She propped herself up onto her elbows, laughed as she looked down at him without his glasses on, 'Can you see?'

'Not a damn thing,' he said, 'but I think I can manage.'

And fucking _hell_ did he manage.

She stayed up on her elbows for all of about two seconds before he flicked his tongue against her and she fell back onto the bed. He worked quickly, in firm, fast strokes until her thighs were trembling and she was absolutely incoherent, and then he backed off, slowed down, made his mouth move feather light over her until her fingers threaded through his hair and she was begging him to go faster.

He really, _really_ seemed to like it when she begged him, and she wanted to tell him that he better not get used to it because it was never going to happen outside the bedroom, but she was far too distracted to even _think_ about sassing him just then.

He did this to her twice before he changed tack and slid one, two fingers inside her. She was almost immediately on the edge, but he didn't back off this time, just maintained a quick steady pace and pressed her hips into the mattress even as they fought to come up off the bed. After a few more well-paced flicks of his tongue, the tension in her stomach broke.

James lifted himself up onto his hands as soon as she stopped trembling, slid up over her, dropping kisses as he went, across her stomach, over her breast, along her collarbones, before his mouth met hers. Her hands flew between them, wrapped around the waistband of his (mercifully still unbuttoned) jeans, and pushed them down as far as she could manage.

She couldn't get the jeans any further than mid-thigh though, and, frustrated, she broke the kiss. 'Jeans off,' she said, sitting up a bit and trying to shove the jeans a bit further down his legs. James reached down and slid his jeans to his knees before he groaned, irritated, and rolled off of her. Lily laughed, 'Glad I'm not the only one struggling with your damn jeans, Potter.'

James tugged his jeans and boxers off, threw them onto the floor, and rolled back over her, said, 'Shut up, Evans,' before kissing her again.

She'd been desperate before, they both had been, but, skin to skin, their desire hit a pitch. James kissed her neck, paid particular attention to the spot just under her ear that made her groan, ran his hands over her. Lily reached between them, wrapped her hand firmly around him, and James groaned into her neck, swore under his breath.

'I need to get a - I've got a condom in my wallet, hold on.'

Lily shook her head, leaned over to reach into her bedside cabinet, 'I've got one, don't move.'

James kissed her shoulder as she moved, trailed kisses along her neck as she ripped open the packet and reached between them again. 'You're - James,' she said, laughing and elbowing him gently in the ribs to push him up, 'I can't concentrate when you're doing that.'

James chuckled, 'What, this,' and he leaned down again, nibbled gently on her neck. She moaned, 'Yes, James, fuck.'

Once she rolled the condom on, though, James lost all interest in teasing her.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, pressed her heels into his back, and when James pushed into her and moaned, she would have sworn that she was going to fall apart at the seams.

He started out slowly at first, smooth, measured strokes that started the tension building in her stomach, and when she pressed her fingers into his shoulders, begged him to go faster, he muttered things she could barely catch into her neck ('hold on… I just need…. Let me…'). It took him a minute to get himself together, and so she wasn't expecting it when his tempo increased and his movements become harder and deeper.

It took them a minute, but they eventually worked out a rhythm, one that was quick and deep and just a bit rough, and it pushed her right to the edge, made her hover there, her fingers pressing more and more firmly into James' shoulders before she finally couldn't take it anymore and she moved her hands between them because the tension was driving her insane and she needed the fucking relief. She moaned loudly the moment her fingers brushed against her clit, and when James started kissing her neck, she knew that she was done. It only took a few moments, just a few practised turns of her fingers before she was clenching down on him and James was swearing into her ear while she rode it out. He didn't last much longer, only managed a few more thrusts before he stilled and pulled in a sharp breath.

He took a moment, pressed his forehead against the side of her neck, waited for his breathing to slow a bit before he pushed himself back up onto his forearms and looked at her. 'Bathroom?'

'Over there,' she pulled her arm out from underneath him and pointed at the door just across from her bed. James slid off, pushed himself off the bed, grabbed his glasses off her bedside table, and disappeared into the bathroom. Lily shifted as soon as he shut the door, pulled the blankets out from under the pillows and slipped underneath.

The room was dark now, the only light coming from underneath the bathroom door and the streetlamp at the end of her street, and it took a surprising amount of effort to keep from just closing her eyes and falling asleep. The bathroom door opened a moment later, the light illuminating the room before James clicked it off, and she couldn't see when James crossed the room and slid into bed next to her.

They laid quietly beside one another for a while, staring at the ceiling while they settled in. After a few moments, James reached over and started brushing his fingers along the back of her hand.

'So, I, uh,' James said, 'I obviously really like you.'

She chuckled, turned to look at him. It was too dark to see more than his silhouette, but her heart warmed all the same. 'I obviously really like you, too.'

James' fingers threaded themselves through hers, and Lily flipped her hand so that their palms pressed together.

'I suppose I'll have to take you out on a proper date,' he said, and he turned his head on the pillow to look at her, his eyes sparkling in the darkness. 'Aren't we a bit past the dating part,' she asked, raising an eyebrow she was sure that he couldn't see, 'you have a key to my house already.'

'Regardless,' he reached over and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, 'what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't take you out on at least a few proper dates?'

She chuckled, 'Oh, you're my boyfriend now?'

James just studied her quietly, 'Do you want me to be?'

She grinned, happiness bubbling so wildly in her chest that she could barely get the word out. 'Yes.'

James turned onto his side, leaned forward and kissed her softly before he settled back onto the pillow, his eyes on hers, his fingers threading gently through her hair. They laid like that for a few minutes, the silence enveloping them, before James smiled at her.

'I can't believe that you called me a Georgia peach when we first met,' he said, his voice quiet. She laughed, 'I couldn't help it, I was distressed.'

James rolled over, one hand planted just beside her hip as he hovered over her. 'You're _always_ distressed, darlin',' he said, leaning down and pressing kisses along the column of her throat. She tried to scoff, but it came out more like a moan instead, and she pressed her hips up into him again. James smiled against her skin.

'Well anyway,' she said, now hung up on this, 'what was I supposed to call you? What's the North Carolina equivalent?'

James shrugged and hummed against her neck. She pushed her hand into his collarbone so that she could look at him, 'You don't know?!' She tried to sound scandalised, and James just rolled his eyes, leaned over and started kissing the other side of her neck.

Lily grabbed her phone off the bedside table, unlocked it and went to her browser. The light from the phone was shockingly bright now that her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and she blinked a few times before she shot James a look. 'I can't believe you don't know.'

James laughed, rolled off of her so that he was lying beside her again, 'Try and make me feel guilty all you want, I don't really need to know my state dance and all that shit, thanks.'

She opened the first link in her search and immediately started laughing. James propped himself up onto his elbow so that he could look at her, 'What?'

'Your state dance,' she said, laughing so hard she could barely get the words out, 'is _clogging._ And the beverage - it's _milk_. Fucking milk!'

James groaned, leaned down and buried his face in her neck, 'Way to bring it North Carolina, fuck.'

'Did you know that you have a state vegetable,' Lily said, now gasping for breath. James chuckled, his breath hot against her skin, his chest rumbling against hers, 'That I do know, darlin'. The Carolina sweet potato.'

He laid his accent on thick and Lily burst into laughter, shaking her head at James when he pulled his mouth from her skin and leaned up to smile at her.

'That's what I'm going to call you from now on,' she said, reaching up and running her fingers through his hair, 'My Carolina sweet potato.'

'You can call me whatever you like, darlin', as long as you don't confuse me for a Georgia boy ever again.'

She rolled her eyes and was going to push him off her for being so ridiculous, but then he leaned down and kissed her again and _well._


End file.
